Home 26: Rooms to let, fifty cents

[bc56]

Plum Mountain Park

That's funny. It looks almost like the kind of distortions you get around a low quality hologram...
"Something's not right here." Jade muses. She starts walking sideways towards one of the distortions without looking at it. "Can you do your park meld thing? It might be helpful to have some supernatural senses here, because something is messing with my eyes."

[Rebonack]

[Plum Mountain Park]

"Um... okay? Just a moment..." Lambslaural replies.

Jade walks sideways.

The fox watches her.

The visual effects seem to... well. They don't get WORSE. But they don't get much better, either.

A large moth flaps past Jade's ear, a distressed voice carried in the beat of its wings.

Jade that isn't a fox it's a kumiho get out of there!

The fox's fox-like grin grows wider and wider and wider, showing too many too large teeth as it raises its tail and fans it like a peacock. One, three, five, seven, nine, each with a coiling ghostly blue wisp of flame spiraling at the tip.

Then the room lurches. Upside down and backwards, objects spinning past and flying toward her, clashing colors and scintillating patterns. It is incredibly disorienting. It's hard to even tell which direction is up.

Wuh oh.

[bc56]

Plum Mountain Park

Jade's certainly off balance after that... Whatever is going on. But she didn't become a superhero by shying away from danger. She reaches into her purse and draws... A screwdriver. Steel, flat head, with a four inch shaft, the sort used for hard-to-reach places. She leaps at the fox, improbable weapon in hand. Lambslaural might not be happy about Jade smuggling iron into the park, but there'll be time for that argument later.

[Rebonack]

[Plum Mountain Park]

Fighting through the kaleidoscope of clashing color and disorienting shape Jade plunges the screwdriver into-!

Lambslaural's chest.

Her eyes go wide with shock and betrayal.

"...why," she mutters as she slumps over, decaying into a heap of bones, branches, and leaves.

Cruel laughter echoes through the cafeteria as the tables and walls dissolve away, replaced with a thicket of gnarled vines covered in thorns. Vines wrapped around the desiccated corpses of...

Everyone Jade has ever failed to save.

Everyone she just wasn't good enough to rescue.

Their empty eye sockets stare at her accusingly.

[bc56]

Plum Mountain Park

"What? No!" Jade collapses to her knees. "Noooooooo!" She's barely coherent, bursting into tears. As the spectres of her failures crowd around her, taunting her, she can't even feebly wave the screwdriver at them. One of them has her transfixed in guilt and terror, a shadow of a young woman, her pretty face marred by the broken piece of rebar impaled through her head. "No... I should've... I could've..."

[Rebonack]

[Plum Mountain Park]

"You killed me, Jade," the woman says, staggering toward Jade like a puppet on strings, vines lashed around her limbs. "If it weren't for you I would still be alive."

"Why did you kill me Jade? I thought we were friends?" Lambslaural's discarded skull asks.

With her focus now fully on the corpses, Jade may or may not feel a malevolent, hungry presence creeping up behind her.

Hot breath and the stench of rotting organs.

That has to be it.

The kumiho is trying to get break her resolve before it moves in for the kill.

Maybe...

Maybe if she lets it get close, she'll be able to hit something vital with that screwdriver.

[bc56]

Plum Mountain Park

Jade seems helpless. "No, I didn't mean to! It was an accident, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She's thoroughly incapacitated by her remorse, unable to raise the screwdriver in self-defense or even realize the danger creeping up behind her.

[Rebonack]

[Plum Mountain Park]

Something huge and heavy hits Jade from behind, knocking her flat on her stomach against the cold wooden floor. A heavy paw that looks disturbingly like a human hand clamps down over the wrist holding the screwdriver. A second paw braces against her back, just to the left of center.

Right behind her heart.

Jade feels hot breath on her neck, right behind her ear.

"Pathetic."

A woman's voice.

The most beautiful voice Jade has ever heard. But it's marred. Twisted. Dark. Dripping with venom and honey alike.

"Your heart is breaking for everyone your worthlessness killed," croons the voice, lips practically touching her now. "I'll take it and make the hurting stop."

Claws don't gouge into her flesh. Rather, it feels like the monster is trying to reach inside her chest. The icy grip of death.

[bc56]

Plum Mountain Park

Jade shivers under the weight of the massive paws. She's been caught in a moment of great weakness. The attack used against her takes advantage of all her self-doubt and guilt. She's powerless to stop the creature from devouring her heart.

[Rebonack]

[Plum Mountain Park]

Those icy claws clamp around Jade's heart and her whole body goes numb moments before she feels a wrenching sensation as something vital and fundamental is pulled away from her.

The fox wasn't lying, though.

The hurting stops immediately.

"I had really expected more fight out of you," the kumiho hums, moments before the sound of chewing something rubbery and tough fills the air. Then a loud gulp. "I had it all planned out."

Now completely paralyzed, somehow alive in spite of her heart being pulled out and consumed, the nameless woman is flipped onto her back so the horrible fox can leer down at her.

"You stab 'me' with that silly screwdriver. I pretend to die. Parade out with all the children. Ask for your name and like a fool you give it to me because a sweet little face requested it. Ah, speaking of," the kumiho says before gripping the woman's face and peeling it off.

There is a mask in the fox's hand. The face on the mask is strangely familiar. Thoughts are becoming increasingly hazy. The fox puts on the mask.

Someone...? is now looking up at Jade.

"Let me tell you a secret," Jade whispers. "I'm going to use your face to kill your gaiad friend in one month. Next full moon and she's dead. And I want you to try to stop me. It'll be a fun game, don't you think?"

Then Jade picks up the screwdriver and stabs it right through where... someone's?... heart ought to be. But there's no heart there, so what does it matter?

"But we can't leave you as a faceless, nameless lump now can we? That wouldn't be very sporting. And I need a dead kumiho for this to work," Jade says as she reaches down her shirt and pulls out a fox mask. "How lucky for me I always keep a few extras."

The mask is pressed down into the empty space and-

Delilah the presently normal-sized fox can feel again. That screwdriver is shoved clean through her, pinning her to the floor. She's absolutely paralyzed until someone pulls it out. Delilah is a kumiho, a wildling. A wily, predatory fox spirit that hungers for human hearts. Every heart she consumes feeds her power and gives her another mask to fool her prey with. Delilah also knows that the mask Jade is wearing used to be her mask. It was stolen from her. Delilah knows that she wants her mask back. Maybe to add it to her collection of masks again? They say if a kumiho eats one thousand human hearts she can become truly human. Is that what Delilah wants?

The illusion melts away, revealing the cafeteria again. Jade stumbles back from Delilah's frozen body, glaring at it.

"Oh m-my goodness! Jade are you okay?" Lambslaural calls out, running to Jade's side.

Delilah remembers Lambslaural. Lambslaural is HER friend! Jade is using HER mask to steal HER friend! So... so that she can kill her. Why would Jade want to kill Lambslaural? Lambslaural is a sweet nymph why would anyone want to kill her?

"I'm fine. Just... a little shaken. Let's keep looking, the kids aren't in here," Jade says as she leads Lambslaural out of the cafeteria-

-and looks back over her shoulder to give Delilah a nasty, foxy grin.

An hour passes.

Then two. Three. Five. Eight.

It is night time.

A goblin is skulking about around the old school, searching for scraps. He's pretty glad to have discovered a perfectly serviceable screwdriver stabbed into a dead fox!

He pulls it out.

[bc56]

Plum Mountain Park

Delilah gasps when she's finally released. Phew! She thought she'd be trapped there forever! The goblin is probably surprised when the dead fox starts breathing and rolls over. "Thanks." Then she's gone, scampering off away from the goblin towards where she remembers Lambslaural's house is. She has to warn Lambslaural. She has to help her friend and get her mask back from that other kumiho who stole it. That was her favorite mask! She wore it all the time, she hardly even spent any time as a fox, she liked it so much.

[Rebonack]

[Plum Mountain Park]

The goblin yelps in surprise when the fox goes dashing off, then yells something really rude that won't be repeated here at her for startling him.

Getting out of the school is easy enough. Out the door, down the hall, though the big archway in the front. Down the steps and into the woods. It's night. And night in the weald is spectacular. Despite the crisp autumn chill in the air lightning bug pixies are out in force, filling the forest with dancing flashes of ghostly light. The calls of forest beasts echo through the trees along with the reedy sound of pipes. The full moon shines down through the canopy to illuminate a procession of shee all decked out in their finery trooping through the trees.

Delilah can ALSO hear the sound of the rushing water down in the gorge.

If she fell down there she would be nearly instantly waterlogged and helpless. Probably flushed out into the ocean where she would never be found.

Don't fall in the water, Delilah.

Water bad!

Assuming she manages to brave the log bridge and make it to Lambslaural's home she'll find it quiet and dark. Save, of course, for the soft glow of luminescent mushrooms growing inside the strange tree. It doesn't look like Lambslaural is here. Or... at least not here specifically. She's the whole weald though, right? Maybe got poke one of those plum trees to get her attention.

[bc56]

Plum Mountain Park

Delilah carefully crosses the river and goes to the house. She knows the way to contact Lambslaural is through the plum trees. She scratches at one with her paws. "Lambslaural! Laaaaaambslaaaaaaural!" She yips at the tree. Hopefully the gaiad is awake and not so far into the park mindset that she doesn't notice the fox trying to get her attention.

[Rebonack]

[Plum Mountain Park]

What does the fox say?

Apparently Lambslaural's name.

A breeze picks up, rustling through the branches. It's cold and biting.

You again. You're lucky I'm feeling nice. If I find you trying to eat anyone else in my forest I'm tossing you in the river.

Oh.

Oh no.

Did Delilah ever interact with Lambslaural without her Jade mask? Does Lambslaural even know that she's a kumiho?

She didn't. She never knew. She probably thinks that OTHER kumiho who STOLE her Jade mask is the real Jade! Which of course is silly. Delilah ate Jade years ago, that mask is hers fair and square.

[bc56]

Plum Mountain Park

"Whatever happened to 'You. Will always. Be my friend. No matter what?'" Delilah complains. "Another kumiho stole my Jade mask! She's planning to kill you on the full moon!" Delilah is panicking now. "Please, you've got to listen to me!" If Lambslaural doesn't recognize her, she'll need to convince her, somehow.

[Rebonack]

[Plum Mountain Park]

There is, of course, a problem here.

Lambslaural knows that kumiho are liars. They're tricky. And the vast majority of them are evil, wicked faeries. Even the 'nice' ones still eat people. All wildlings are dangerous. Every single one of them. And if this one is claiming to be the 'real' Jade, then all that means is that she ate Jade at some point in the past before the other kumiho stole her mask.

Or...

Maybe didn't eat Jade.

Maybe she ate Jason.

Ate Jason then got hit with a weird gender flipping curse while wearing that mask. A lot of things that can alter mortals can change a faerie's mortal mask. But with something as tricky and shifty and mercurial as a kumiho, a creature that can make copies of their masks to fill in background characters in an illusion... Maybe that curse just mean there were two masks? One for Jade and one for Jason? Or it could be that Jade got her heart eaten some time after she became Jade but before she met Lambslaural? It wouldn't be the first time a kumiho has fooled other fae into believing they're mortals.

If you really WERE just wearing a Jade mask when I met you, then who was Jade before she got cursed into being Jade? the wind in the trees demands.

[bc56]

Plum Mountain Park

"It was," Delilah says, switching masks, "Jason." He sure looks like a male version of Jade. They have a sibling resemblance. But this causes some dissonance in Jason's head. Delilah remembers eating Jade. But things don't line up now that she considers them. The first time she remembers wearing the Jade mask was in that tavern, the Black Dragon's Den. But she changed into it in front of everyone? And why did it feel so awkward at first? Masks aren't supposed to feel awkward. And all the other people were changing masks. Even Zee, and Zee's an... How could she have befriended a creature like that? How did it not see through her immediately? Ugh. Now the cognitive dissonance headache is pretty strong. Jason holds his head in his hands. "Ugh. I feel like someone's thrown my brains in a blender."

[Rebonack]

[Plum Mountain Park]

Maybe Zee DID see right through you, Jason?

She didn't expose you to that awful, searing light knowing it would burn you to the bone. She's a strange creature, that's for sure. Something as big as she is should be stomping around like Godzilla flattening cities, not sitting around at a bar making friends with whoever wanders into the pub.

One way or the other, Jason's mind will try its best to fill in the holes. No, it must have been Jason she ate, not Jade. Jade came after, because of the curse. And she stuck with Jade because... the curse made her want that? Yeah! That was it! The curse was trying to change the way she thought! Making her think more and more like a mortal! That had to be it. There's no way it's an accident that the curse was removed and then less than an hour later here she is in her natural state again.

Well.

Not in her natural state right now.

Right now she's Jason.

S-so... you ate Jason, then? the wind in the trees asks. The voice sounds sad. You must have caught him a little after he came to the Nexus?

The idea that her friend was... killed... gives her a sinking feeling. Even if he was killed before she ever met him. She can't bring herself to hate the kumiho for it, though. Kumiho have to hunt just like she has to root. But she hopes maybe some of Jade/Jason's heroism and selflessness rubbed off on the predatory fae.

[bc56]

Plum Mountain Park

"I'm sorry." Jason says. "I killed him..." How? When? "I can't remember..." When was Jason ever in the enchanted forests she lives in? No, he was always on rooftops or in cellars. He rarely ever went to parks, not like she did as Jade. She never had the opportunity. But that can't be right. She did eat him, she must have, or how could she be him? "Ugh, something's not right. Why can't I remember?" She remembers everything else clearly. Why not this one moment?

[Rebonack]

[Plum Mountain Park]

You ate Jason while playing the damsel in distress, right? That sounds right.

But where were you being distressed?

You must have let you fall into the clutches of some villain while disguised as a hapless victim. Then you just wait and see if a dashing hero will come by and rescue you! Then you eat the hero. That, or you get bored at eat the villain. It must have been something like that, right? That makes sense.

But still... something feels off.

I hate to say you were just doing what comes naturally to you, but it's true. Just... please try not to eat innocent people, alright? And don't hunt anyone in my weald, the wind sighs. I'm going to say I b-believe you. Um... provisionally. I feel like there has to be something more going on here... Why don't you go into my house and find somewhere to rest? Or... um... wander around and shriek at birds? Do whatever it is foxes do. I'll talk with my sisters and we'll decide what to do with you.

A few seconds of heavy silence follows before the voice rises again from the chirping of crickets.

And what to do about the other kumiho who stole Jade's face.

[bc56]

Plum Mountain Park

"Thanks. And again, sorry." Jason heads into the house and looks for a good place to sleep, a couch or a bed that's mostly unchanged from what it originally was, or some other sort of soft thing. He takes a seat and ponders. How could she not remember where she caught Jason? Not even what mask she was using at the time? Maybe if she goes through Jason's memories and the masks she has, she can figure it out? So what masks does she have, other than the Jade mask that got stolen?

[Rebonack]

[Plum Mountain Park]

Well.

She has Delilah, a woman she had found being held hostage by a super villain. That's her oldest mask and the one she lifted a name from. After all, kumiho don't really have Names. None of their own, at least. None besides 'nine-tailed fox'. So it isn't unusual for them to refer to themselves by their favorite mask if they're the sort who likes socializing with others. Some kumiho don't really do that. They're cruel and inhuman and never bother to adopt a Name. Delilah had been using Jade as her Name, but she hasn't got that one anymore. She could take Jason as her Name again.

What else?

Janine Park, female, a super villain with light based and flight powers. Called herself 'Purity'. Human supremacist. Terrible person. Taking down the gang she ran was one of Delilah's most cherished accomplishments.
Kacie Cabrera, female, a low power super villain and a lieutenant of 'Purity'. Her cape name was 'Stump'. She could make people forget what they were doing.
Alyce Walter, female, the super villain that had kidnapped Delilah. Cape name 'Tempest'. Wind and lightning powers.
August Pickett, female, unremarkable bank clerk injured during a super hero battle, she wasn't going to make it. August is a good reminder of how much is at stake if you really want to be a hero.
Logan Olsen, male, super hero who was trying to rescue Delilah. His cape name was Zippo, fire and super-speed powers. He felt so intensely about being a hero. His ardent conviction is what set Deliah off on the path to try being a hero instead of just a monster that eats people.
Amanpreet Brady, male, unremarkable thug who had the misfortune to try mugging Delilah.
Yousaf Bullock, male, super villain with the cape name 'Hydroman'. He had been a real challenge due to a kumiho's vulnerability to water. But he was threatening to breach a dam and flood a whole town in Outside. Zippo was the only hero available to stop him.
Elias Power, male, unremarkable goon. A henchmen of Purity.
Theodor Odom, male, unremarkable goon. Another one of Purity's lackeys. She had used his mask to infiltrate Purity's operation.
Mikey Valenzuela, male, a super villain with the cape name 'Gyro'. A tinker with a knack for making these weird spinning robots.

And of course Jason. She doesn't normally eat heroes, but she admired Jason so much. She had been rescued by him as Delilah and she really liked him and the opportunity arose when they were alone with each other and it just happened. Sometimes you just... sometimes you just accidentally eat people, okay? Sometimes these things happen even to someone like Delilah who's pretty good at not eating random people she's alone with when the impulse strikes her.

It was obviously an important event, that's why she wore Jason (and later Jade's) mask so much. So why is she having so much trouble recalling the details? The more she thinks about it the more bits and pieces seem to fall together, but something still feels... off. She had been captured as Delilah for scouting/hunting. Jason showed up and rescued her. She really liked Jason and so she ate him. The emotions and outline of the memory are both there but the details are fuzzy, it's strange.

After fifteen minutes or so of sitting on the bed thinking Lambslaural's voice rises from the gentle chirp of a cricket's wings.

Jason? My sisters and I talked about it a b-bit and, um... we want you to tell us a bit more about yourself? You the kumiho. Dandelion wants to make sure I'm safe, so she wants to know-
I want to know what your DEAL is, dude. Wildlings eat people. I've had to deck a few in the face.

[Earl of Purple]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"Not at the Groundtown shop. That's for buying only. They don't sell down there, they've got shops in Skyside proper, where rich people can get slaves that have been checked over to ensure they're healthy and have whatever useful traits you're looking for. The Guild became the most important slaver group in the city by cultivating a reputation. They don't sell anyone without first ensuring they're healthy, and if a slave dies within three days of sale, they'll check the body and most likely give a refund." Not if there's severe signs of abuse, however.
"Could we get inside as slaves and break out that way? Or... Oh! Could we get some human-sized golems, illusion them up as people, sell the people and then have the golems break out and cause havoc on the inside so we can sneak in and release everyone?" Pontius might be willing to loan them some, but unfortunately Sekhmet and Pontius have done that before and not all the golems were returnable. So he'd be less willing to do it again.
"Maybe? Depends on the golems, and the illusion. They'd be touched at some point, so they'd have to feel realistic at the very least." Aethelflaed hadn't considered the possibility of illusions and magic robots.

Miri's Definitely Haunted House

"I'm... not sure who you are, or what you want." And Arron doesn't automatically trust mysterious voices when they're associated with strange occult paraphernalia, unlike Miri.

He looks the bodies over, and touches the one on top to try and figure out how long ago it died. It doesn't have much use when dealing with skeletons, but it's a useful ability when creating fleshy undead.

[bc56]

Plum Mountain Park

"I understand. I don't expect you to trust me anymore after how much I lied to you." Jason changes back into a fox and begins to tell her story, switching through masks as she goes. She changes to Delilah. "The first person I ate was Delilah. But it turned out she was being held hostage by a supervillain. Oops!" Wait, there's another hole here. Where was Delilah held hostage? How did the kumiho have access to that place? "So I ate her too." She takes on Tempest's face, for a moment, then switches to Zippo. "Then this guy came to save Delilah, and I ate him. But wow, he was a real hero. It was hard not to be a hero after that. His convictions were so strong. So after that, I would fight supervillains, and I would eat them." She flicks through a bunch of her other shapes. "And then I met Jason. He rescued me from another villain, and I really liked him. He was another real hero, and I admired him and his convictions... And then I ate him. I didn't mean to, it just happened! We were alone together, and I was wishing I believed as strongly in his principles as he did and..." She pops back to fox shape. "I got them. He didn't believe in killing anyone. It's hard, but since I got his face I've not eaten anyone. I get so hungry. I..." She paws at her head. That headache again. She had perfect opportunities to eat people, powerful people. Twice. And she had been so hungry both times. But she passed them up without hesitation? That doesn't make sense! "I think that other kumiho did more than take my Jade mask. Parts of my memory are fuzzy. I can't remember details." But everything Jason did is perfectly clear. C'mon Lambslaural, you have half a brain. If Jade had been a kumiho, wouldn't Wicke have noticed when he pulled the curse out of her? He doesn't seem like he would just ignore something like that.

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"I, uh, can't do an illusion that would, uh, last without me there to maintain it, or, uh, any tactile illusion at all." The golems would need Sekhmet there, and even then they'd still feel like golems to the touch. "Uh, uh..." Sekhmet is clearly very afraid to say what comes next. "If you, uh, sell, uh, me, I could, uh, do it. I could, uh, use my powers, uh, to help you break the, uh, slaves free."

[Earl of Purple]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"No. Not happening. No way, no how. You're not going to be sold. If anyone's sold, it'll be me. I can boost myself, I can smash my way out easily. I'm not relying on illusions, I'll just pull the door down and punch a guy. Besides, you're a pacifist, Sekhmet. How'd you fight your way out?" And, unsaid, what would happen if she can't find her way out and her mother finds her? She'd be alone, and there's no way a princess of Hell wouldn't be able to afford whatever extortionate price they put on Sekhmet's head, once they realised how much she wants her.

[bc56]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"No! If anything happened to you, I would never be able to forgive myself!" Sekhmet hugs Prumathe. "I can, uh, control minds. I, uh, don't have to hurt anyone to escape. And, uh, if it gets really bad, I, uh, can open a portal and escape that way. You'll uh, just need to summon me back. I can, uh, even stay in contact with you the, uh, whole time." He knows about her mind powers. She's used telepathic communication on him before.

[Earl of Purple]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"Wait, you can control minds. Of course! We go there, you mind-control them into letting all the slaves out. That... That should work, right?" There might be a few too many minds, though. It'd be a tall order.
Aethelflaed frowns. "The guild have a memory wizard there, at least. They might have some countermeasures against mind control. At least on the more important people." Countermeasures tend to be expensive, and the Guild does like to cut costs where they can.

[bc56]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"It's, uh, not that simple. Controlling people takes effort. I can only do, uh, a couple at a time." And she hasn't actually tried it on humans before. She can control about a dozen hivelings, if they stay near her, fewer the more complex their minds are. She thinks she could control 3 humans at once at most.

[Earl of Purple]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

If Sekhmet mentioned the hivelings, Prumathe might consider them. As is, however, he tries not to think of the Hive, and turning to it for help doesn't occur.

"Well, uh, maybe if you pick the guy who wants to buy off you or whatever, it won't be so bad?" But this seems like it might be a dead end.
"If you can only do a few at a time... Can you swap them? Take one, get them to punch someone, swap to someone else and get them to shoot a gun into the ceiling, and just cause a rolling wave of chaos as people are controlled and released?" That's probably a bit large of an effect.

[bc56]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"That, uh, sounds complicated." Sekhmet definitely doesn't think she has that level of control. "It's much easier to hold control of a small number for a long time." She looks at Prumathe. "I, uh, I can do this." She doesn't sound very sure though.